Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Chef Kevin in Singapore


  Recently, IFF's Chef Kevin, based in our South Brunswick Creative Center, visited Singapore and Shanghai to work with a customer.  While there, he took the opportunity to research some culinary benchmarks, share the CulinEssence approach with colleagues, and to do some serious culinary exploration for himself and his fellow chefs. 
"We had some specific benchmarks we were working on for our customer there," said Kevin, "but it would be impossible to not do some exploration of my own in these incredible cities.  And when you take these very big trips, you feel an obligation to squeeze every opportunity you can out of them - both for the company and for your own natural curiosity."
Singapore and Shanghai did not disappoint. "The markets, the street vendors, the high-end restaurants all have something to teach you," Kevin continued.  "One of the things I find so fascinating is the ability of everyone - no matter where life has brought you or how humble your tools - to make food that is exciting, comforting, delicious, and nourishing.  Look at this cleaver and this stump.  The knife is old, but it cuts.  The stump works well as a cutting board.  In the hands of the right person, these humble tools can make great meals out of the most basic of ingredients.  As a chef, I find inspiration in this."
Singapore and Shanghai serve as culinary centers of excellence for IFF, but Chef Kevin expands on that: "These are great culinary cities with long histories of great food, everywhere you look.  I kind of see them as culinary centers of excellence - period."